Enough has already been said about the virtue of digital transformation. In fact, it is not even a bone of contention anymore. Every CIO knows the importance of digital transformation, and is leading the charge to align their organization’s IT in its pursuit. But, much of the challenge arising in today’s IT setup is not whether to change, but what to change and how. IT heads are aware that the expectations from them are high. The share of Shadow IT solutions as against the in-house IT solutions is rapidly increasing. Other departments, although guilty of this, definitely do not deserve any blame.
The disruptive technological challenges of today demand enterprise agility. Such agility enables an organization to set up operations in a new market, a new country from the ground up, equipped with all the necessary processes and a full staff. That kind of enterprise agility does not allow other departments the luxury of time to wait for their in-house IT to develop solutions for them, lest they lose precious customers to the competition. Moreover, Gartner recently forecasted that only 30% of all digital transformations ever succeed. Therefore, the challenge here is to lead transformation in a way that it succeeds. Successive studies on top companies that have effectively managed it indicate that their success does not depend on the IT budgets, as is traditionally thought. Instead, the success of digital transformation lies in the mindset of the IT heads. These points touch the most important aspects of a successful digital transformation.
A Startup Mentality
Startups are always strapped for cash and resources. Yet, they manage to develop amazing new technological solutions in surprisingly short times. Large companies are proactively trying to emulate the startup atmosphere in their organizations. A typical strategy is to pursue minimum viable product (MVP) approach, wherein organizations create a solution in a shippable form, and then improve it with features as per the requirements and suggestions of the users. Some enterprises have established formal processes to acquire, access, or utilize startup technologies and ideas.
Agile Talent
Employee satisfaction is largely dependent on their ability to see the value of their work. Watching their contribution improve their organization, improve the products, and make other visible changes to the organization’s processes and operations is a source of motivation in itself. A constantly changing organization is likely to erase or drive employees’ contributions out of relevance. Their sense of accomplishment out of their contribution takes a hit from this, resulting in many employees leaving such organizations. To prevent that IT heads should be able to share their grand vision for the company with their colleagues. They should effectively communicate with them how the changes are still in line with the company’s common goals, and therefore, their contributions are valued. In other words, the talent should be agile enough to not only embrace the changes in their company, but also lead them.
A Relentless Customer Focus
Customer experience is the single most important focus for enterprises to succeed. Any lapse in customer experience by one company is an opportunity for the competition to move in and swoop away that customer. This is especially true today when customers’ habits and requirements are changing every few months. Therefore, all processes should have a feedback loop coming from the customers, and anything that negatively affects their experience should be addressed immediately. The responsiveness here is highly critical. According to a recent study, 42% of the customers on social media expect the companies to respond to their queries or complaints within a single hour.
Digital transformations are not a goal anymore. They are a way of doing business. This mindset is what guarantees success. Contact our team at RAY ALLEN today to learn how we can help your team succeed.
Todd Ringleman
Latest posts by Todd Ringleman (see all)
- Who Owns Your ITAM? - April 16, 2019
- A Reflection on 2018: Growing the Company with Core Values and Community - December 21, 2018
- Inspiring the Team: Train, Trust and Thanks - November 29, 2018